twelve step programs and atheism

I know there's a good deal of animosity toward xA (Alcoholics Anonymous, Cocaine Anonymous, et cetera anonymous...) programs in our community, and here on TA. I've certainly had my problems with them too, but also certainly have needed their help, as the xA programs are just about all there is when it comes to finding support for chemical dependency, particularly if you can't afford group therapy or something like that.

Anyway, the major rub for people like us is all that Higher Power stuff (caps theirs). Shit 12-steppers say on Youtube is unfortunately pretty accurate.

I've resorted to a 'roll-my-own' sort of program. They do like to say "take what you need and leave the rest", so I leave all the god stuff. I rely on something like the following, which is taken from weagnostics.com , a website that takes its name from the name of a chapter inAlcoholics Anonymous.

An Agnostic Version of the Twelve Steps (Cleveland)

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol-that attempts to control our drinking were futile and that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that even though we could not fix our problem by ourselves, circumstances and forces beyond our personal control could help restore us to sanity and balance.

3. Made a decision to accept things that were outside our control, especially what already is and to do the best with it.

4. Made a searching examination and a fearless inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to ourselves with total openness and to another human being, the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Became willing to let go of our behaviors and personality traits that could be construed as defects and were creating problems.

7. With humility we acknowledged that we had these shortcomings and with openness we sought to eliminate these shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through contemplation and meditation to improve self-awareness and adopted a spiritual approach to life as our primary purpose.

12. Having had a profound change in consciousness as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

This version of the steps seems pretty hard to take issue with. Some might quibble over "spiritual approach" in step 11, but I note that Sam Harris even talks about spirituality and how that doesn't necessarily mean anything supernatural.

So, what do you think?

Note: I chose this category because of the inclusion of "psychology", which I think is appropriate for this discussion. Recovery is a type of behavior modification therapy, in my opinion. YMMV.

There's Rational Recovery, which used to have meetings but no longer does apparently. I looked too, and their book says that they discontinued a meeting format some years ago. There may still be orphaned groups somewhere, I don't know.

The above steps are a modification made by some atheist/agnostic AA group.